Halcolm's Progress: A Comic Journey through Evaluation, Ideas, and Imagination

 

Introducing Halcolm’s Progress: A Comic Journey through Evaluation, Ideas, and Imagination

For the past several years, I’ve been exploring a unique creative intersection: where research and evaluation meet comics and storytelling. That adventure led me to create a series of illustrations inspired by the work of renowned evaluation scholar Michael Quinn Patton—and today, I’m excited to share the new cover image for my latest project, Halcolm’s Progress.

If you’re new to this world, don’t worry. Here’s the nutshell version.

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Who is Halcolm?

Halcolm is a fictional character created by Michael Patton as a way to communicate big ideas in a playful, accessible way. He’s a sort of evaluation folk hero—part philosopher, part wanderer, part comic sage—who stumbles through challenges, insights, and “a-ha” moments.

My comics take Halcolm’s spirit and run with it:
What if Halcolm’s journey were an illustrated quest?
What if the challenges of evaluation were reimagined as literal landscapes?
What if big ideas became funny, visual adventures?

Thus was born Halcolm’s Progress—a tongue-in-cheek, illustrated journey modeled loosely after Pilgrim’s Progress, but reimagined for the world of learning, systems change, and developmental evaluation.

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About the Comic Series

Over the past months, I’ve created a collection of single-panel and multi-panel comics that bring Patton’s concepts to life through humor, metaphor, and visual storytelling. These include:

• “The Nine Circles of Evaluation Challenges” — a playful descent through the frustrations researchers face.

• Halcolm’s heavy-lifting adventures, where he deadlifts stacks of literature the way the rest of us deadlift barbells.

• And now, the cover illustration that sets the tone for Halcolm’s entire journey.

Each comic aims to make technical ideas more approachable, memorable, and enjoyable—especially for readers who might otherwise find evaluation dense or intimidating.

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Why This Project Matters

I’ve always believed that visual storytelling can clarify ideas in a way text alone can’t. Comics invite us to laugh, reflect, and see familiar challenges through fresh eyes.
By bringing Halcolm into a comic universe, I hope to bridge the gap between scholarship and creativity, making big concepts feel human, humorous, and accessible.

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Looking to Collaborate

If you’re a writer, educator, or researcher who’s curious about using comics to communicate your work—or you’ve ever thought, “This chapter needs a cartoon”—I’d love to connect.

I enjoy partnering with authors to turn ideas into visual narratives, whether through:

• Cover illustrations

• Single-panel humor

• Conceptual diagrams

• Full comic sequences

• Or creative visual summaries of complex ideas

If Halcolm’s Progress sparks something in you, let’s talk. Creativity is always more fun when it’s shared.